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2018 General Assembly Session Highlights

Here is a listing of some of our legislative accomplishments, organized by topic, from this past General Assembly session.

Healthcare

Medicaid Expansion - The House of Delegates has now passed two budgets that include Medicaid expansion, however the Senate has yet to vote on these budgets. The program would provide access to health care to nearly 400,000 working Virginians, who live at 138% of the federal poverty line. The influx of federal dollars will allow the state to improve health, stabilize hospitals, and re-prioritize funds for historic investments in every level of education as well as provide raises for teachers and correctional officers.

Suicide prevention accountability - HB 569 (Del Gooditis) requires the Department of Behavioral Health to report information related to their anti-suicide programs across all stages of life to the General Assembly each year.

Air Ambulance Services -SB 663 (Sen McPike) requires hospitals to provide a cost range to patients choosing air ambulance transport, when the situation is non-emergent, so patients have more information to make an informed decision.

CBD & THC oil -SB 330 and SB 726 (Sen Dunnivant) allow for the regulation and dispensing of these oils from a licensed facility for the purpose of treating patients with epilepsy and other diagnosis.

Education

Addressing the teacher shortage - Several pieces of legislation were passed that would make it so that teachers could keep their licenses for longer, and other measures that would help make it easier for those that want to teach in Virginia schools can. SB 103 (Sen Suetterline) provides stronger reciprocity for teachers who are spouses of Armed Forces members.

Certification Programs in High School -SB 664 (Sen McPike) gives school divisions greater flexibility in offering modular industry certification courses at the end of the year, after SOLs are completed, to better prepare students for the workforce.

Computer Coding as Language Credit - HB 443 (Del Carroll Foy) allows high school students to take a computer coding class to fulfill the foreign language requirement for graduation with a standard or advanced diploma.

Student Borrower resources -SB 394 (Sen Howell) passed to help borrowers navigate student loans by establishing a student loan ombudsman. In addition to helping Virginians understand their financial commitments, the ombudsman will also help resolve complaints from borrowers against companies that engage in predatory practices.

Professional licensure protection -passed HB 1114 (Del VanValkenburg) to protect people who struggle to make their student loan payments from losing their professional licenses. Abolishing a backwards practice of penalizing working people by taking away their means of paying back their loans.

Tackling the School-to-Prison Pipeline - We made significant progress toward ending the school-to-prison pipeline by reducing the maximum length of school suspensions. This measure helps address the disproportionate harm that students of color and students with disabilities face with long term suspensions. HB 1600 (Del Bourne) limits long-term suspensions to 45 days, unless there are aggravating circumstances. SB 170 (Sen Stanley) limits suspensions for kindergarten through 3rd grade to 3 days, unless aggravating circumstances exist.

Recess in Elementary School -HB 1419 (Del Delaney) provides flexibility to allow for more unstructured recess time in elementary school.

Economic Development & Consumer Protection

Innovative economic development- Democrats and Republicans worked together to pass a bill that would incentivize businesses to bring good jobs to Southwest and Southside Virginia by making it easier for out of state business to relocate to economically depressed areas in Virginia.

Workforce Development in the classroom - HB 632 (Del Bulova) requires the Board of Education to develop curricula in career investigation, which would help even elementary school students to become exposed to technical and trade education. This initiative will help students become career-ready and help businesses have access to a skilled workforce.

Employment for Persons with Disabilities - SB 652 (Sen McPike) requires state officials and private sector to work together on strategies for increasing the employment of persons with disabilities through the state procurement process.

Bipartisan Metro Funding Deal -SB 856 (Sen Saslaw) secures funding to improve Metro through both capital and operating improvements. Virginia will fund $154 million a year in permanent funding, partnering with D.C. and Maryland to ensure that the transit system can better serve Northern Virginia. This bill will help attract more national industries to the region, and return Metro to a state of good repair so it can continue to take thousands of cars of the roads each day.

EZ Pass Fees- SB 643 (Sen McPike) passed, which requires VDOT to give a whole year before charging $10 fee for not using the EX Pass FLEX in the FLEX mode. A full repeal of this fee has failed for several years.

Criminal Justice Reform

Raising the Felony Threshold- There were 7 bills in the Senate alone to raise the felony larceny threshold, including SB 102(Sen McPike) to raise it to $1500. Ultimately, these were combined into SB 105(Sen Suetterline), which raised the threshold from $200 to $500. Virginia’s felony bar has not been raised since 1980 and is tied with New Jersey for the lowest in the nation. Raising the threshold has been a major criminal justice reform focus for Democrats for at least two decades.

Court fines reform- HB 202 (Del Mullin) ensures than anyone convicted of a crime is informed of their option to either pay a fine or complete community service. This bill will help low income Virginia's avoid unnecessary legal issues due to unpaid legal fees.

Educating the Dangers of Prescription Drugs - HB 1532 (Del Herring) encourages schools to incorporate the dangers of prescription drug addiction into health education, an important step in addressing this crisis.